I canned my original plan of doing Grays and Torreys after a ridiculous travel day. In fact, I almost didn't even make the drive out to the Mt. Evans areas and only decided at the last second to head out. After multiple flight delays, lost luggage, a trip to Target for news shoes and shorts (all I had was my jeans and flip flops b/c of no luggage), I finally made it out to the Mt. Evans area only to find that the road was closed. I had no map, no gps watch, no cell service, no proper shoes, and no clue how much light was left in the day this far up in the mountains. I checked the clock on my phone and told myself that by 7:00 I needed to be headed back towards the car. I picked up the trail near the front gate in my brand new $12 boat shoes and headed, what I assumed to be up the Mt (I would later learn that this trail heads along the backside of Echo Lake) until I came to a more direct route. I cut off the trail and headed straight up through the forest and popped out onto the road. I tried to regain the trail but to no avail and followed the road up for a bit. I was able to regain the trail and eventually got above tree line and then the route finding was much easier. I continued up to what I assumed was Mt. Goliath, sat down and had a beer, and then headed back down to the car. I would later determine that I picked up about 6 miles.

Heading back down to the car from Goliath

Monday - Echo Lake to Chicago Lakes, NB MT110

After a long day of work, I made the trek back out to the Mt. Evans area (this would be the theme of the week). I was thinking that, if the weather would hold, I would like to do the round trip from Echo Lake up to Mt. Evans via the Chicago Lakes and then back down to Echo Lake via the Northeast Face to Mt. Warren, Roberts, Goliath. This would be 7,000ish feet of gain and 18 - 20 miles. With that effort in mind, I wanted to scout as many sections of it as I could during the week. This was a pretty boring run, outside the switch backs down to Chicago Creek, but it provided for some stunning views that the camera on my phone just couldn't do justice. I made the round trip from Echo up to lower Chicago and back fairly quickly and actually had enough daylight left upon returning to Golden to tag Green Mt. before calling it a day. Another solid 6 miles in the books.

Tuesday - Mt. Spalding & Mt. Evan, NB MT110

The forecast was sketchy for the whole week with afternoon storms in the forecast for each day. When I finally got a break from work and slipped out of the office for a bit... man was I bummed when I saw the cumulonimbus exploding across the front range. I spent the whole afternoon waffling between making the drive out to Mt. Evans or playing it safe and hitting Green Mountain in Golden for some miles. I finally got away from the office and it was a not brainer to make the drive out to Mt. Evans. It was already getting late when I got out there and the road was wet but I didn't notice and signs of storms, so I was feeling pretty good about the weather but was worried about it getting dark. I drove up to Summit Lake and hit the trail up towards Mt. Spalding. The climb up was a good bit easier than I expected even though there was a few spots that required me to actually us my hands an climb. The views were awesome until things got socked in with clouds. The trek over to Evans from Spalding was actually kind of a bore. I hit Evans and had the summit to myself, which was very cool even if the view was mostly obscured by clouds. I hung out for a bit and then descended the Northeast Ridge, which was a horrible muddy loose rocky mess. I then cruised the road a bit taking in the views and rounding out 6 miles for the day.

I'll admit that I was a bit intimidated by this view before starting out!

Hey, Snow!

Wednesday - Nothing, got tied up with work and was mega bummed

Thursday - Mt. Goliath, Mt. Rogers, Mt. Warren, NB MT110

Parked at the Dos Chappell Nature Center and pulled on an outer shell, since it seemed a bit chiller than the past few days. I headed out on the Walter Pesman Trail through the ancient Bristlecone Pine forest - very cool and certainly a spot you should not over look. Made the grind up to Mt. Goliath and then cruised along the ridge line hitting Rogers and Warren. Great views the whole time and my legs were feeling pretty nice after not doing anything the day before. I ended up covering about 8 miles round trip but the elevation gain was pretty mellow, something like 2,400ish feet. I could totally dig a run like this everyday but no such luck in the flat burning waste lands of Texas.

Friday - Mt. Spalding, Mt. Warren, Mt. Rogers, Mt. Goliath, NB MT110I need to get my film from this day developed and will then prepare a more detailed post for this outing. I started at Echo Lake and descended down to Chicago Creek and then headed up to Summit Lake, Spalding, turned back b/c of weather and back tracked over Spalding and back to Summit Lake, then descended back to Echo Lake via Warren, Rogers and Goliath.